I watched a documentary on Albert Brooks the other day. For those that do not know him, he is a comedian/actor/director prominent in the 80’s and early 90’s. My favorite movie of his is “Defending Your Life”. Those younger than me know him best as the voice of Nemo’s father. Throughout the documentary the viewer is given a glimpse into the reverence that other well known comics hold for Albert because he is considered a pioneer. Being a pioneer is never easy. It takes courage. It takes patience. It takes sticktoitiveness in the face of adversity. And as we enter this week of Thanksgiving, instead of writing a cliche about how I am thankful for all of you (don’t get me wrong, I am), I would prefer to explore my gratefulness for adversity and the indelible mark all of it has left on me.
Adversity comes in many shapes, sizes, and colors. It comes in life changing events such as the end of a relationship. It comes in tiny little packages when a portion of your system needs tweaking. It can look like a bout of ill health. It also can be disguised as success as success in ways creates its own interesting adversity. And it surely rears its head in shifting markets.
And yet, it is absolutely through adversity that we grow as individuals and as organizations. We survive and thrive and better prepare ourselves to handle the next stretch of challenges. I am not sure if I have faced more or less adversity in my life. It feels like more, but I could be a bit like Albert Brooks (this will make sense momentarily).
I have been in love three times in my life. Once in college, which was true, but puppy love. Once in my late 20’s and early 30’s, which again was true love, though this time it was blind to real life. And finally again in my late 30’s through present day. And boy do I ever suck at letting go of relationships that have ended. Just ask my friends. The moping. The longing. The self-medicating. The lack of attention paid towards my responsibilities. Though if I am giving myself some credit, looking back I believe that I needed to gather up, not the pieces of my broken life, but rather every morsel of self reflection that I could gleam from the heartaches so that I could be my best current version of myself for Laura when we started our journey.
Adversity in business is also ubiquitous in our lives. No one has not faced at least a little adversity throughout their careers. My first foray into this world of Real Estate was through a development company my father started building Single Family Homes in 2006 and 2007. As you can imagine buying land at 2006 prices, then paying 2006/7 prices for materials and labor, then trying to sell these homes to recoup costs and make profit after the bottom fell out did not go so well from a financial standpoint. Painful to be certain, but both my father and I have had successful careers in real estate brokerage and development post that experience though the years proceeding the crash were not a cake walk for me. One had to find transactions. I helped investors buy $50k foreclosed homes for $1200 commissions. One time my business partner and I received a $4000 commission when we were not expecting it and it felt like we were rich. And just as I was starting to get my feet underneath me, a client of mine sued me because they bought a condo as an investment in a building that did not allow rentals. The listing broker had lied to me about that and I failed to follow up by reading the rules and regs. Incidentally, this client did not sue their attorney, even though that due diligence was at least also his responsibility. Adversity is oftentimes all around us and yet we power through.
All of these experiences induced indigestion at the time, but were incredible lessons. And so, yes, this Thanksgiving season I am putting it out there that I am thankful for adversity and all that it has taught me.
The documentary was a fun watch. It painted a picture of a comedy genius and pioneer. In its limited time it demonstrated that there could have been an easier path for Albert, a notion one of his agents commented on at one of their meetings. I believe the question he posed was something along the lines of, why do you [Albert] always take the hard road? Albert’s response was, “Oh! You think I see two roads!”
Real Estate can be the hard road, but for us that love it, for us that love what it represents for our clients, security, freedom, comfort, etc, it is the only road. And though it winds through adverse conditions, it also leads us to rolling hills and sun dappled groves and shimmering lakes surrounded by fall colors, and o9ur own freedom and security and comfort!
